Bleed
by wandering on the road of life
Summary: One life bleeds into the other, even when they're out of suit. Collection of semi-interconnected vignettes. 3) Flower garden.
1. 1: Cat Nap

**CAT NAP**

Hi! I've fallen in the ML fandom and I'm stuck for the mean time.

If you see any mistakes, leave a review! I'd love constructive criticism or even just to hear your thoughts.

Warning: changing tenses, present tense

* * *

When Adrien was very small, his father (and Natalie) used to find him curled up on all manner of surfaces. There were the common sense places: chairs, beds, and couches. Then there were the strange places: floorboards, tables, and drawers. Once, Mr. Adreste entered the library and found little Adrien, hair tousled, face dusty, curled up on a bottom shelf between an English dictionary and a world atlas.

It was a strange place to find the boy, but Mr. Adreste, with the fond sigh of a parent used to the strange things their kids did, merely shook Adrien awake and told him to play outside instead.

The shelf had been facing a window.

Sunlight. That was really the common factor. Like a great yellow kitten, Adrien had curled up on any warm surface he could find. It was exasperating when Mr. Adreste needed to find Adrien, but it was also very cute. Apart from amusing Mr. Adreste and Natalie, the kitten naps had amused a great many staff and party guests. He was much older now, but everyone still loved to remind him of those peculiar kitten naps.

He's never grown out of it.

Adrien likes to think it's because of the ring and not because it's in his nature (he's mortified enough when it happens, especially now). Unfortunately, he can't deny that he's been cat napping since childhood.

Adrien honestly cannot help himself.

When the sun is warm enough, his eyelids feel heavy, no matter how awake he is before then, and his entire body sings to lie down, to soak in the lazy afternoon sun.

That's usually how Natalie will find him: curled up in the light, a hint of a purr in his chest.

Like always, she'll give him an amused smile. _Really, Adrien? Still?_ But she'll leave him be.


	2. 2: Yarn

**YARN**

credits to edorazzi tumblr for sparking this

Bet you thought I was done, eh? There's a reason the title and summary didn't match the story inside (though some of you did follow this regardless). Shout out to _serima, Aki, Mak, and Serena_. Your reviews fired me up and I stayed up much too late working on this in excitement. To Serena, your one criticism is being rectified now. Marinette will get her turn soon.

As always, I'd love to hear your thoughts or criticisms. The ML fandom is a lot more vocal than I'd realized.

Warnings: shenanigans, lie? or lay?

* * *

As a cat-suit wearing vigilante, there was a certain amount of cat association that could be assumed about Cat Noir - about Adrien Adreste, if anyone managed to figure out it was him donning that cat-suit every emergency. A tolerance (if not love) of cats. Cat puns. Cat features, even out of suit.

Now Adrien Adreste was, of course, not exactly cat-like in every way, shape, and form. He was allergic to feathers (the fight with Pigeon Man had been terrible). He didn't always land on four feet (and when he didn't he had the beautiful, graceful, powerful Ladybug to help him). He most definitely didn't have nine lives (no matter how many times he'd said so to Ladybug).

That didn't mean he wasn't cat-like sometimes.

"No. I'm not doing this today."

He was in his room, foot tapping restlessly against the floor and textbooks open on his desk. There was a History test in a few days, and he'd been trying to study for the last hour. All was quiet in the room for Plagg had fallen into a nap about half an hour ago. Adrien was immensely thankful he hadn't needed to get the cheese. He liked his cheese as much as the next guy, but Plagg liked the stinky stuff to a disgusting degree.

"Nope," Adrien repeated to himself. "Not. Doing. This."

For good measure, he huffed it again very quietly before picking up his pen to try and take notes on Chapter 13.

 _Scritch. Scritch_.

 _Tap._

Yet…

Once again, Adrien found his eyes being drawn to the side. To that innocent item sitting oh so invitingly by the garbage bin. How had it even gotten into his room? No one in the house should have been using it. Plagg? But Plagg was too small to carry something of that size from outside in. So how?

 _How had a ball of yarn entered his room!?_

 _Tap. Tap._

Adrien was tapping his feet again. His studies forgotten once more as he tried desperately to forget the ball existed.

 _Tap. Tap. Tap._

He was stronger than this. Yes, he was Cat Noir, but he was _Adrien_ first. Adrien didn't have urges like this.

 _Tap. Tap. Taptaptaptap._

 _Adrien didn't._

With a yowl that would have woken anyone else up (Plagg, apart from being a cheese addict and an overall lazy kwami, also slept like the dead), Adrien leapt off his chair. It rolled until it bumped into the wall, as did Adrien's pen which he dropped in his hurried scramble for the ball. He even knocked over his garbage bin. Crumpled paper and several wrappers spilled out onto the floor, but thank goodness the bin had been emptied a while ago. Otherwise, he'd have had a terribly large mess to clean.

"Aha. Ahaha. Hahahah!"

The blond batted at the yarn ball, fingers curled up in a weak semblance of a cat's paws. No matter how many times he'd done this before, there was something mesmerizing about seeing the ball roll. The way it got just a bit smaller every revolution. The way it left a little yarn trail behind.

Adrien gave another giggle and pounced. His hands scrabbled against the yarn ball's surface, but it squeezed free, rolling away quickly before bumping to a stop by his couch.

 _Fun, fun, fun!_

It was cat and yarn for the next few minutes as primal instinct kicked in. Adrien, cheeks flushed with excitement, crawled around his room like a child half his age, batting and pouncing and acting very cat-like. He hadn't noticed, but at some point the yarn had begun winding around _him_ , starting around his legs and tangling more as he moved. Eventually, the teenager was completely ensnared, yarn wrapped around him from head to toe. But! _But!_ His yarn ball was trapped as well.

The ball was squished between his "paws", pressed tight to his chest. It was less than half its original size now, and Adrien held it close contently. The afternoon sun streamed in from his large windows, warming both him and the floor nicely. A hazy bliss had overtaken his senses; he rolled around a bit more (yarn ball still secure against his torso), happy just to lay in the light.

He couldn't help it.

 _Purrrrrr._

When Plagg woke up fifteen minutes later, the little black kwami took one look at the blond, (hopelessly tangled in yarn, clutching the remainders to his _purring_ chest) and laughed.

 _Loudly._

Eventually, Adrien awoke from his blissful trance. The happiness from the yarn ball had run its course, so he laid there blinking stupidly at his _still laughing_ kwami as he tried to reorient himself.

"You can stop now." He said after a minute had passed with no signs of the kwami letting up.

"Pwahhaha! _Snort_. No way! I haven't seen _snort_ you this ridiculous in a while."

Plagg performed a shaky loop in the air (the uncontrollable laughter making it difficult for him to fly well).

Adrien grit his teeth and slowly untangled himself. His ears and face burnt fiercely with embarrassment. If Plagg didn't stop laughing soon, he'd have to take drastic measures. Cheese level measures.

Free from the yarn tangle he'd created Adrien then set about clearing up the mess he'd made in his chase. It was nothing too serious (overturned decorations, loose papers, the garbage bin, chair, and pen), but the teen had to bite back a curse when he glanced at his clock. Darn. He'd wasted too much time with the yarn ball. There was still that History test to study for.

As he swiftly wound up the yarn, Adrien wondered how to dispose of it. Should he just chuck it away? That felt like a waste. Did he even know anyone who knit? Not really. He obviously couldn't keep it...but maybe he could? The real question was if he could stand having Plagg laughing at him again.

"Plagg, I'm going to study. Try not to bother me, and if you need cheese there's a block in the fridge."

"Roger that, Kitty Boy." The kwami smiled, gave one last chuckle, and zoomed out the door. Plagg knew to avoid detection by other humans; Adrien wasn't too worried.

He stuck the ball - now back to its original size - in his desk drawer. He'd figure out what to do with it another day. At least it hadn't been Natalie (or God forbid his _father_ ) who'd found him like that. For the time being, he had a test to study for.


	3. 3: Flower Garden

**FLOWER GARDEN**

I cannot believe this fandom. You have such great ideas, that I can't help myself. There's so much to write, yet I'm so busy right now. In regards to AngelFace273's question, these will remain as little moments, but may form a vague plot if I write enough of them. I do have longer ideas with story lines, but I shan't post those until I'm nearly done writing.

Thanks to Mak for the idea. I'm afraid I don't know much about flowers, and was in a rush to get this down. Aki, your idea has been noted! Thank you!

Shout out to _aki, Unstoppable Cyborg, AngelFace273, serima, and Mak_ for reviewing last chapter!

Warnings: vague flower descriptions

* * *

"Again, Marinette?"

"Sorry, Mom. They smelled so nice!"

Marinette Dupaine-Cheng stood beaming in the bakery doorway. Her school bag rested comfortably on one hip, her other side was obscured by a large, colourful bouquet.

Her mother gave a sigh then sent her a fond smile.

"You'll have to keep these in your room. The other rooms are already filled."

Somehow, Marinette's smile became even wider than it already was. She danced past her mother, leaving a quick kiss on the woman's cheek. "Thanks, Mom! I know just the place!"

The teenager disappeared up to her bedroom.

 _That girl and her flowers._

* * *

Marinette loved flowers of all shape, size, and colour. They were pretty things, delicate but strong, graceful, playful, and bright. She loved small flowers (tiny white cilantro blooms in a pot on the kitchen counter), big flowers (great yellow sunflowers in a vase by the sitting room couch), and anything in between (marigolds, tulips, roses, chrysanthemums, _bouquets_ ).

And when Marinette loved something, she surrounded herself with it.

"Oh! I knew you'd look wonderful there!"

Her newest flower acquisition, a monstrous piece with about ten different flower types, sat by her computer monitor. It was so large that it draped off the edge of her desk, a beautiful overgrown clump. And better yet, green eyes stared back from the screen right beside it. Adrien. Two things she loved so very much, side by side.

"Wow! This looks like the biggest one yet!" Tikki exclaimed.

The little spotted kwami had flown free of Marinette's purse now that they were safe in her room.

"Not quite!" Marinette gave a delighted squeal. "There was that bouquet two years ago. One of Daddy's customers sent it as thanks."

"It's still very large."

"Yes it is! I can't believe I got it at a discount!"

She hadn't recognized the worker at the flower shop. He must have been a new employee, because Marinette had been buying from them for years. The owners treated her as they would a favourite niece. She wasn't sure what to make of his flustered behaviour, but she assumed he was overwhelmed by her excitement. He'd warm up to her eventually.

Tikki landed on Marinette's shoulder and gave her ear an affectionate nuzzle. "As they say, don't look a gift horse in the mouth!"

Marinette grinned. "Absolutely!"

* * *

 _Spritz. Spritz._

Marinette adjusted several leaves on the daffodil plant in the dining room. She gave the plant a final spray of water, and finally decided she was done for the night.

This was her ritual. Every evening (when there weren't any Ladybug situations), Marinette would tend to her plants. They were numerous, spread out around her house. Some had been there for years, but most of her plants came and went. Bouquets like the one she'd acquired today stayed for a few weeks before having to leave. Others were sent off as gifts to friends, bakery customers, and family. She had an uncle in China who especially loved her peonies.

"Marinette! Me! Me!"

Tikki buzzed happily around her head. Mom and Dad had gone out again - date night. Marinette found her parents so cute; even after about two decades of marriage, they were still as in love as when they were dating.

"Alright! Hold your horses." Marinette gave a tinkling laugh and held up the spray bottle. She gently squeezed it, and Tikki shrieked with delight when the mist hit her.

It was a strange pleasure Tikki had picked up. She enjoyed being spritzed, so Marinette, apart from tending her plants, also tended to Tikki at the end of the day.

The two traveled upstairs. Marinette stored her flower care tools in a drawer, and stretched. A yawn escaped her mouth, and she gave a start after checking her clock.

"Wow, Tikki. It's later than I thought."

"You spent a long time with Adrien's flowers," explained Tikki.

That's what the monster bouquet had been dubbed. _Adrien's flowers_. Because that's who Marinette had thought of the moment she'd set eyes on the bouquet (one of the ten varieties had been superb yellow blooms the size of Marinette's fists), and who she'd ultimately "given" the flowers to. Their place on her desk was a substitute for the courage she didn't have when she was out of suit.

"Come to bed, Marinette!" Tikki called. The kwami had zoomed up to the bed and burrowed into her little space between the pillows. Marinette had never worried about squishing her. The teenager didn't move much in her sleep.

"In a bit!"

After quickly going through her bedtime routine, Marinette returned to her bedroom, pajamas on and hair loose from its usual pigtails. The lights clicked off, and she carefully crawled into bed. Tikki, the tiny thing, was already asleep.

"Good night, Tikki."

Marinette shuffled into a comfortable position. As her eyelids grew heavy, she couldn't help peeking down. She couldn't see her monitor, but she could see a few blooms from Adrien's flowers - grey splotches in the dark.

"Good night, Adrien. Good night, flowers."

She slept soundly.


End file.
